Prevent arbitrary fee hikes by private schools: Sakeena to officers

Srinagar, Nov 12: Minister for Education, Social Welfare, Health and Medical Education, Sakeena Itoo Wednesday chaired a meeting at Civil Secretariat here to assess the issues related to fee fixation and regulation of Private Schools across Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting was attended by Secretary School Education department, Ram Niwas Sharma; Director School Education Kashmir, Naseer Ahmad Wani; Secretary JKBOSE, Ghulam Hassan Sheikh; Director School Education Jammu, Dr. Naseem Javaid; Director Finance School Education department, Administrative Officer Fee Fixation and Regulation Committee (FFRC), and other concerned officers, either in person or through video conferencing.
During the meeting, the Minister held detailed deliberations on range of issues concerning fee fixation, regulation, and operational transparency of private educational institutions across the Jammu and Kashmir.
The Minister emphasized that education is a social responsibility and reiterated the government’s commitment to ensuring that no student is deprived of learning opportunities due to unreasonable fee structures. She directed the officers to strictly enforce existing guidelines and strengthen monitoring mechanisms to prevent arbitrary fee hikes and other regulatory violations.
Recognizing the vital role of private schools in supplementing the public education system, the Minister called for greater transparency in fee disclosure, adherence to approved structures, and timely redressal of grievances from parents and students.
The Minister also stressed the importance of constructive engagement between the government, school managements, and parent associations, advocating for a collaborative approach in shaping a fair and sustainable educational ecosystem across Jammu and Kashmir.
While reviewing other issues, the Minister issued strict instructions to CEOs to check unregulated selling of school textbooks by private schools through various agencies on exorbitant rates. She directed the CEOs to conduct routine checks on schools as well as book shops and take stringent against schools and book shops involved in selling textbooks on exorbitant rates.
She also instructed the Director School Education to issue a detailed order regarding curriculum/textbooks to be followed by schools and make each CEO to implement that order in letter and spirit. She asked the CEOs to take appropriate action against schools violating this order.
The Minister also directed the CEOs to establish suitable grievance redressal mechanism for dealing with complaints related to fee structure of schools as well as increased textbook prices.
She also directed the officers to develop a fully dynamic website on a government server to enable online applications, fee data submission, and transparent public access to approved fee structures.
She also asked them to develop evidence-based recommendations for periodic fee revision mechanisms to ensure affordability and sustainability in private education.